Cotswold Canals - Thames & Severn, Stroudwater - merged topics

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

The ITER project in southern France is building a prototype fusion reactor. It,s a multi continental colabouration.

[ellendune]

Yes so was Jet at Culham - About 40 years ago!

[stuving]

Given there hasn't yet been a viable (i.e. net energy positive) experimental reactor, commercial ones would be two generations off - so 30 years will be the minimum wait until that experimental demonstration happens. Frankly, there's no real difference between putting 30 or 40 into that "prediction" - it all depends what you mean by.

And ITER is almost 10 years late so far - startup predicted for 2025 (maybe, big maybe) not 2016.)

[johnneyw]

Yes, it looks like bit of a wait still. Not heard much about NIF in the states lately but I'm not sure if it's function is purely fusion energy production.

[Richard Fairhurst]

In a different field who would have thought that the Rochdale and the Huddersfield Narrow canals would be restored so who knows if we keep plugging it Portishead may get back it's train service.

And closer to home, the Cotswold Canals have just got preliminary approval for Lottery money to connect the (newly restored) Stroud section to the main canal network at Sharpness!

[johnneyw]

In a different field who would have thought that the Rochdale and the Huddersfield Narrow canals would be restored so who knows if we keep plugging it Portishead may get back it's train service.

And closer to home, the Cotswold Canals have just got preliminary approval for Lottery money to connect the (newly restored) Stroud section to the main canal network at Sharpness!

Strictly speaking in will join the Sharpness Canal at Saul Junction. Jolly good news though.

[CyclingSid]

Following the link from SandTEngineer's post

Further contracts let for GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) stations: http://www.infrastructure-intelligence.com/article/may-2019/network-rail-announces-new-contracts-crossrail-project-1

on the Elizabeth Line, I looked up some of the other news items.

One that caught my eye was:
Highways England has today announced £4m funding towards the restoration of the final ‘missing mile’ of the Stroudwater navigation canal in Gloucestershire. http://www.infrastructure-intelligence.com/article/may-2019/highways-england-pours-%C2%A34m-canal-restoration-scheme. The Cotswold Canals Trust says this is part of their larger project "to restore the Cotswold canals as a navigable route from the Severn to the Thames."

I think they will need more than £4m to make the Sapperton Tunnel navigable again https://www.cotswoldcanals.net/sapperton-canal-tunnel.php

[johnneyw]

The £4m is a part of the cost of the next phase of restoration between Stroud and Saul Junction where it will reconnect the Cotswold Canals with the national canal system on the Gloucester - Sharpness Canal.
Sapperton tunnel isn't a part of that restoration stage but will follow at a later stage with different funding.
The £4m is specifically to help where road building has obliterated the original route (A38/M4) in order to link with the short spur of navigable canal at Saul which was reinstated many years ago as moorings.
The 7 odd miles already restored around Stroud was done first as it was seen as the most difficult bit, even if it meant not linking to the national network immediately.
Also soon to come will be the 're-excavation of Brimscombe Port where the two separately run canals that formed the Cotswold Canals met and transferred cargoes as the two canals were of different widths requiring different sized boats.
I'm going on a bit but as a long standing member of the Cotswold Canals Trust, I couldn't resist throwing that in.

[Red Squirrel]

Just to be clear, johnneyw: The illustration shows the route where if crosses underneath the A38/A419 roundabout. Is there a usable tunnel under the M5?

[johnneyw]

Ah yes, the M5 has had a number of proposed solutions:  Tunnelling under the M5 was one. Another was making a stretch of the river Frome, that runs parallel to the canal route and under an existing M5 bridge, into a navigable deviation. Now, I think, but am just short of certain that the latter solution is favoured but I have to admit that I am a little behind with phase 1b of restoration as I have had my head turned by other shiny new heritage projects or other transport developments of late.

[Red Squirrel]

OK, you pointed me in the right direction: The March 2019 edition of The Trow (which you can find here: https://cotswoldcanals.com/the-trow-archive/) explains that the intent is to build a new, lower level channel alongside the River Frome where it passes under the M5.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm really pleased to read this.   I grew up in (or very near) Stroud and remember as a child walking along or on top of the canal, as most of the route west of the town and round the town had been infilled with rubbish at some previous time. It's so much more pleasant now and all makes sense rather than being isolated stretches. (I also remember walking along the trackbed of the old Midland line there and jumping from sleeper to sleeper on an old bridge – all now turned into a cycle path.)

[Richard Fairhurst]

OK, you pointed me in the right direction: The March 2019 edition of The Trow (which you can find here: https://cotswoldcanals.com/the-trow-archive/) explains that the intent is to build a new, lower level channel alongside the River Frome where it passes under the M5.

I think going into the Frome itself was considered too risky by the Environment Agency for reasons of flooding and ecosystem, so the "separate but parallel" solution was arrived at.

The Highways England grant is superb news. The third obstacle, after the A38/A419 and the M5, is of course the Bristol-Gloucester railway: but I believe the intention is to construct a culvert there at the same time as a long-planned engineering closure, coming up in a couple of years.

I'm hoping Phase 1B will be complete before we move our mooring from Worcester - as another long-term CCT member (and the original creator of their map) I can't wait to take our boat to Stroud for the first time.

(A pedant writes: this bit is of course the Stroudwater Navigation rather than the Thames & Severn Canal.)

[johnneyw]

All this helpfully reminds me that it's about time to get the train to Stonehouse or Stroud to do my once or twice yearly stroll to inspect the progress for myself. A lot of dredging in progress last time I was there, up towards Brimscombe which should be pretty much done by now.

[Richard Fairhurst]

https://www.stroud.gov.uk/news-archive/lottery-bid-success-will-make-stroud-and-stonehouse-canal-towns-after-70-year-break

Edited highlights...:

Stroud and Stonehouse are set to become canal towns once again, following The National Lottery Heritage Fund?s decision to grant ?8.9 million to the Cotswold Canals Connected Project.

The exciting decision, announced today, means that the five miles of canal already restored will be connected to the national inland waterway network at Saul Junction.

The canal, known as the Stroudwater Navigation, was formally abandoned by an Act of Parliament in 1954.

?This important section of canal restoration greatly helps us to pursue our vision of eventually completing the canal route from the River Severn to the River Thames,? added Mr White. ?We can now start planning the restoration of the canal from South Cerney to Lechlade.?

Work on the stretch between Stonehouse and Saul is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Work is already underway on Whitminster roundabout and the new railway bridge at Stonehouse Ocean near St Cyr?s Church.

Enormously good news. This will be the most significant addition to the canal network since the Droitwich Canals reopened in 2011 (there've been a couple of locks opened on the Bow Back Rivers since, but this is more significant, I think).